t a morning inspecting and testing tals family ores before c sed. ting and rong and flexible, and Mary soon found exactly t sed.

    are you doing? said Atal.

    term for climb, so Mary o do a lot of gesturing and roundabout explaining. Atal was horrified.

    to go into t of trees?

    I must see w is he rope.

    Once in California, Mary  a matician rees. Mary tle rock climbing, and sened avidly as alked about tec. So try it ed to be climbing trees in anot greatly appeal, eit t t.  s as safe as possible beforehand.

    Sook a coil long enougo reacree and back doo trong enougo bear several times . t a large number of s pieces of a smaller but very toug loops tied , o the main line.

    tting t place. An ing oug some arroiff leaves in place of feato stabilize t; and finally, after a days o begin. But tting, and ired, and se and slept, preoccupied, w, musical whispers.

    First t off to s an arrocy. Climbing o creatures  t of it hem.

    Privately Mary kne, lig line to one of  it flying uphe bow.

    S t arro stuck in t come out. S t did clear t didnt fall far enougo reac back, s it and snapped it. ttaco t, and sried again , and time it worked.

    Pulling carefully and steadily so as not to snag t, she prepared rope up and

    over until botied to a massive buttress of one of ts, as t s. It ter be.  s tell from t kind of brancen to pitons on to fall, t o make tle more secure, sogeto a  around bot t sig so slip.

    Mary put  in t sling and began to climb.

    Sime ticipated. traig ed to t tting on top of t branc to get a solid purc, only fifteen minutes after s tanding on t brance to t.

    S tending to make a o serve in place of tons and anc;friendsquot; and otying took es more, and once s looked like t promising branc off.

    After ten minutes careful climbing s in t part of ter flole coin-sized t er become one of t iron-hard seedpods.

    Sable spot ed ed.

    tion over  she black highways.

    t breeze,  scent out of tled tiff leaves, and Mary imagined a   branc a kind of bliss s once before; and t  when she made her vows as a nun.

    Eventually s back to ate of mind by a cramp in  ankle,  aurned tention to task, still dizzy from t surrounded her.

    So to es a  in order to see t once t tube of bamboo, fixing tes at eacelescope. tucked in  pocket, and sook it out no, like a vast cloud of tiny beings floating t part ted randomly like dust motes in a s of sunliger.

    For t part.

    But to see anotion. Underlying ting , out from tohe sea.

    ell, t ly so see ill sly sure, and trenuous process of climbing down.

    Mary found tate, ies for the ground.

    Atal oucrunk, uttering gentle o ttlement along hers.

    A soon as t out among time t Mary guessed tors from elseer nehem.

    ttamax mounted tform and welcomed esy sings were over, so speak.

    ingly and  phrasings, she said:

    My good friends, I o trees and looked closely at the seedpods.

    I could see t t of sraf reetops, s on, and it moves against t t it. Can you see t from t.

    No, said Sattamax. t is t .

    ell, sinued, trees are filtering t moves t is attracted to t urned upraig er tals and fertilize tars.

    But t falling dos moving out too be facing ter it. ts  most of t drifts past  entering. t  because in t all traigo t to trees. And you can only see t current from  it.

    So if you  to save trees, and mulefa life,  find out  t, but I ry.

    So look up t of Dust. But from t see it: s the sky was all she could see.

    time, trying to recall any mention of tories, but t sraf came from tars, as it had always done.

    Finally they asked if she had any more ideas, and she said:

    I need to make more observations. I need to find out ion or ers like ts during t. So I need to spend more time in treetops, and sleep up t nigo build a platform of some kind so I can sleep safely. But ions.

    tical and anxious to find out, offered at once to build ever secackle, and presently one suggested a ing Mary easily into to save he dangerous labor of climbing.

    Glad to o do, t about gaterials at once, braiding and tying and lasreetop observation platform.

    After speaking to t track.  several days searcion, but to ely.

    he rifle

    at okens of e determination to complete task.

    But it   patc top of a scree, o see if t, but in trees, t been a s  he window and found where Mary had gone.